the demons we face:
An idea: Lk 8
Have you ever read the reading from Luke about a guy who is demon possessed called Legion? Basically the story tells of this guy in absolute mayhem, Jesus calls the demons out of him and into a swine of pigs who then run and jump off a cliff into the sea… It got me thinking about 2 questions:
1) what are the demons that we and society face today?
Mental health; broken relationships; isolation; the need to ‘be right’; our egos; learnt & nurtured behaviours that we all know we have but are so difficult to rid ourselves of??? I’m sure we could all name more! I wonder what they look like more specifically to you.
2) what would you want to cast off the cliff?
What For me, at my worst I seem to need to justify myself, and rely on my ego – for some reason I need to get my point across, I feel I need to be right… I have some good ideas at why I’m like this and what I need to regularly do to try to limit it. So for me, today I’m wanting to throw my need for justification and my ego off that cliff – for they are my demons!
Labels: reflections
posted by us @ 11:53 am
5 comments
5 Comments:
I personally don't see why feeling a need to get your point across, to justify yourself to others, or to be right are demons you have to
or should exorcise. I think those desires are good. Thoughts?-Luke
In the spirit of not needing to have my point of view heard or
be right, I suppose that Dave's
arguement that these desires can,
sometimes, be demons that damage
our relationship with others and
our inner life and relationship with God is true.
A problem for me is that these demons, the learnt and nurtured
behaviours Dave speeks of, aren't
easy to throw off, since they've
been developed and entrenched in
our hearts, minds and souls over
many years, and all that remains
I fear is to know them and live
with them in a way that least pisses off other people and that
doesn't stop us from doing good and being happy in our own life.
Dave, though you ask "what are the demons that we and society face today?" and "what would you want to cast off?" you leave
out the 3rd question, which I think
would be, "how would you go about casting this\these demon(s) off?"
As a group focussed on spirituality
I guess we should discuss what are
the resources we can find within Christian spirituality that will help us to throw off our personal and societal demons? - Luke
thats a really helpful final point or question Luke - how does one cast off or deal with those 'demons'. Certainly it depends on what people would be dealing with, but in the 1st instance becoming aware of how we operate, and how our actions effect others and the world is a good place to start. So, knowing oneself is a beginning point, and i suspect often wisdom grows from that point, either through the guise of another, or some inner revelation.
As an example, and for me back to my justification idea, i would notice the pattern that my [negative] reacting to certain comments or situations or people might create and reflect on why i responded that way. I might come to realise its been a pattern of survival in my upbringing, or a learned behaviour thats never been fully critiqued... I might then examine whether thats healthy, or indeed a trait i want to continue to see in my life, and act to try and minimize my 'reacting' in similar situations again. Its like 1st recognising you have buttons to be pushed, coming to know your buttons, know that they get pushed in particular situations and then try to work out the wiring behind those buttons so when they are pushed in the future nothing [or not as much] happens!
So to all of us i say - good luck!
Cheers, Dave
I often offend and upset people because I need to prove my point! Sometimes its not worth straining relationships just to prove myself no matter how true my point is!
People should read this.
Post a Comment
<< Home